Background information

To provide more information about the general situation of human rights in Mexico and other topics surrounding our work, we have compiled some news articles, reports and declarations on various topics – human rights, especially indigenous and women’s rights, seed laws, mining and defense of territory.

Over the past decade in Mexico, various new laws have been implemented that strongly favour the commercialisation of seeds, which make it difficult for farmers and has in some instances led to their criminalisation. The new laws don’t consider seeds to be food, as they have always been since the coevolution of humans and crops. This report by GRAIN provides an overview of the different seed laws which criminalise farmers: Download the report.

“In May 2014 Amnesty International launched a global campaign to call for the eradication of torture and other ill-treatment. Mexico was chosen as one of the five countries of focus in this campaign, and after almost two years, the main concerns remain: Torture and ill-treatment is a persistent human rights violation and is commonly used by state agents carrying out law enforcement and security tasks to extract “confessions”, fabricate charges and inflict suffering on citizens. ”Download full report

A report about the various impacts of mining projects: environmental, social, and economic, as well as the mechanisms through which the Canadian government creates favourable conditions for mining companies.

Mexico is facing an unprecedented political crisis. The violence that has taken place during the current electoral process—21 political assassinations during the campaign season—far surpasses that of previous national elections and it is the outcome of impunity, corruption, violence, and collusion with organised crime perpetrated by both political parties and the government at all three levels.

A report by Global Witness which reports on the extent of the danger to which environmental activists are subject in the year 2014. Defending land and territory has never been so dangerous.

“Each week at least two people are being killed for taking a stand against environmental destruction. Some are shot by police during protests, others gunned down by hired assassins. As companies go in search of new land to exploit, increasingly people are paying the ultimate price for standing in their way.

We found that at least 116 environmental activists were murdered in 2014 – that’s almost double the number of journalists killed in the same period. A shocking 40 % of victims were indigenous, with most people dying amid disputes overhydropower, mining and agri-business. Nearly three-quarters of the deaths we found information on were in Central and South America.“

With a special report regarding the issue of disappearances in Mexico, Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented 249 cases of disappearances which presented the conclusion that on 149 of those cases “evidence strongly suggests they were enforced disappearances — meaning state actors likely participated in the crime”.